So info, we live in TN. She got fired from her job as a secretary-style position at a small-town semi-truck repair shop (zero disciplinary record prior to the firing). She had asked the owner to deal with aggressive verbal behavior by a colleague, who was also a good friend of the owner. After about a month, she received her unemployment benefits. She used the money to move back in with me. Fast forward to this week, where she gets a call. She is being told to repay the unemployment benefits as she is now considered a “termination with cause.” It was over three months after the firing and long past the business's appeal date. The owner had contacted them and said that their office had never received any notice of unemployment benefits or appeals, and so he was allowed to create an appeal this long after the fact. Lawyers are difficult to get around here, and the ones further away don't want to deal with the hassle of an appeal after benefits were already awarded.
The tldr is basically that the owner fired her for trying to discuss his friend/coworker's aggressive behavior, then three months later gamed the system to deny her unemployment and get it back despite having no records indicating the termination was with cause.